Alphabet shares plunge after $205B AI spending worries

Google reported a record one-day stock market drop driven by investor concerns over its massive AI infrastructure spending and admissions that its AI search features generate less advertising revenue than traditional search. On the same day, Reddit stock fell after the company reported declining search traffic and announced it would begin requiring users to log in. The author argues that as AI answers keep users on platform search pages and publishers respond by paywalling their content, the web will become smaller and more expensive, ultimately reinforcing Google's dominance. Open article →